Month: December 2014

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Tips for Future German Students

My time at Phillips Universität Marburg has been an incredible learning experience. After only four months, this trip is nearing its end, and so I thought that it would be a good time to give some tips to any students considering the International Undergraduate Study Program.

Internet

Although the IUSP website says that almost all dorms have Internet (but that you must be prepared for the possibility of not having it), less than half of our students actually had access to wireless or Ethernet. As a group, we quickly adjusted to this, but it was a challenge for the first few weeks. In order to get online, you have three options:

1. Get an Internet stick. These sticks are USB devices which will connect your computer to the Internet, for a limited amount of data, usually on a per-month basis. I have found Internet sticks to be extremely helpful in the past, especially as they can be brought on weekend trips to give you Internet on-the-go. However, the plans in Germany are very expensive, and some members of our group had sticks that didn’t work. For this reason, I don’t recommend this option.

2. Buy WiFi from a neighbour.As IUSP students are in Marburg for a year or less, buying a Wireless contract is not feasible. Other students have these contracts, though, and will likely let you use their wireless for a small monthly cost. You can leave a note on your fridge if you are looking.

3. Use the wireless elsewhere.In my building, there was no Internet, but a nearby student building had wireless in the entrance area. This is what I used to get online most of the time, as it was both convenient and free. All academic buildings also have wireless Internet, so you can spend the day at the cafeteria or outside a classroom if you prefer. Depending on where you live, this should be relatively straightforward.

 

Practicing German

During the first 6 weeks in Germany, you will have German classes every day, and these will be hugely beneficial. Afterwards, though, you only have conversation practice twice a week. For this reason, it is necessary to make efforts to practice on your own time.

Get a tandem partner. The university will set you up with a native German-speaker who wants to learn English, and you can practice your German (usually for about an hour a week) with them. I was not aware of this program for a long time, but you can request a tandem partner at any time during your semester abroad. One of the challenges with this system is that many of the German students are already very advanced in English, so it is easy to forget to practice your German. Make sure you set aside some time in which you will speak only English, and some in which you will speak only German.

Note: This doesn’t only work with German! Some of my friends have used tandem partners to practice or learn other languages, too. And you can help a student learn any language in which you have native fluency!

 

Eating in Marburg

I have talked about this before, but I think that it is very important to know where to get food in Marburg. Our group quickly discovered that there are döner and falafel stands all over town – these provide quick and easy meals, and are open most of the night. However, the best street for finding more varied restaurants is probably Elisabethstraße, the street leading up to the language and international centres. Here, you can find a sushi buffet, Italian food, Indian food, and more. There is also a small Asian Market where you can pick up snacks, curries and other food that you won’t find elsewhere. It looks like a gift shop from the outside, but check it out anyway – you won’t be disappointed.

For basic supplies, any of the local grocery stores will do. Many IUSP students like Edeka, as it is cheaper than the larger REWE, but you will find that REWE has greater variety. In any case, there are stores near the student buildings and all major academic buildings – this is helpful, as you will likely find yourself buying the basics every few days rather than shopping in bulk. The most important piece of advice on this front : plan for Sunday. Absolutely every grocery store will be closed, and while certain restaurants remain open for those of us who forgot to shop on Saturday, you will want to have food at your place. This means planning ahead before you leave for weekend trips.

 

I definitely recommend the IUSP program to anyone looking to study abroad and learn German at the same time. The atmosphere is great, and the organizers will help you out with anything you need. I will certainly miss my time in Marburg.

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3 Months in already! – Drei Monate schon in Deutschland

Hello again an alle,

Sorry for the very long break between posts. A couple of reasons, one being laziness, the others being a two week trip to the Balkans at the end of October, lots of stress due to the Landesschulbehörde, and lastly I’ve been really sick for the last three weeks, basically since I got back from my trip. Anyway, I’ll use this post to go over some of the previously mentioned events in more detail and to explain what else my life has entailed these last few months in Germany.

So, after some initial -not very big-  issues at my school, like not really having a Betreuungsleher and such, I finally have found my rhythm and which classes I want to be in. I especially enjoy lessons with my 5 graders, as they are in “English Fast-forward” and are leagues beyond what you’d expect for their age. I can just speak normally to them and they mostly understand me. Plus they’re ridiculously funny. Today we actually did a sort of presentation which was part of the school’s Christmas event where the kids sang two Christmas songs. They sang “Last Christmas” and “Jinglebell Rock” both of which (especially “Last Christmas”) where much too hard for them, but they chose them themselves! The performance didn’t go exactly as planned (Music cut out during Jinglebell Rock and the kids had no idea what to do) and I was on stage with them looking ridiculous, but it was fun anyway!

Aside from the I spend a lot of time with one Oberstufe class of students doing their Abitur exam at the end of the year. Right now they are doing the film Billy Elliot as their topic. Otherwise I dabble in 7th, 8th, 9th, and sometimes 11th grade. Which is actually less diverse than last year (where I also did 10th!). Anyway, sometimes getting between Wolfsburg and Braunschweig is annoying, but it’s worth it to live here in BS, which is much nicer than Wolfsburg, and has the added benefit of the other assistants living here!

Anyway, speaking of people being sick, I was out with a terrible cold flu for like two weeks from beginning of November on and I am technically still a little sick even now, over 3 weeks later, but I am a lot better! Before the sickness though I was living it up on my trip to the Balkans, which included going down through Romania from Cluj-Napoca to Timisoara and then on into Serbia and finally Bosnia. I learned so much from the experience, as I knew very little about these Eastern European countries. Bosnia and the capital city of Sarajevo were particularly interesting, given the wealth of information on both WWI (and what started it all) and the Siege of Sarajevo. I was only a little kid when the Bosnian war was raging, so learning about it now is crazy! I also had awesome travel companians in to other Assistants from the States, Andrew and Vicky. All in all it was an awesome two weeks, but word to the wise, trains (and all public transport for that matter) are absolutely awful in Romania. There are no signs and indications letting you know where stops are, or where to get out, and the bus drivers are like sealed into their compartment so you can’t ask them (even if they could speak English :P). This lead to some misadventures, but hey that’s the fun of travelling!

So last but not least I’ll mention my troubles with the Landesschulbehörde, which is the governmental organization that pays me (essentially the school district). Now to be fair, we are told that we may have to wait up to six weeks for payment, but my expectations were that I’d be paid within a month, which is what happened last year. However, this was not the case. In fact, I didn’t get paid until basically November (while I was in the Balkans, basically penniless, save for some handout money from my saint-like generous parents) , which was really pushing it, seeing as I arrived in Germany beginning of September and started work on the 15th. I was starting to have problems with my roommates (not paying rent and all) and I was super stressed and annoyed, but thankfully I sent an angry email and managed to work it out. A friend of mine didn’t get paid till last week though, so I wasn’t the only one getting screwed over. Anyway all is good now, but it was a stressful time. Here’s hoping the rest my time here goes at least a little more smoothly!

I swear I will add some pictures (and maybe even spice the text up some how) as soon as I get it all onto my computer and sort through the huge collection of photos on my phone. It takes forever to get them on the laptop!

 

Ok thanks for reading!

 

Craig

 

 

 

 

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Lauren in Laufen: an introduction.

Grüß euch! 

Like Stephanie and Alex, I will first excuse myself for not posting earlier, it took me a while to figure out exactly what I needed to do (and what I should write about!).

My name is Lauren Thompson and I  am one of the many (well 6) former UVic Germanic Studies students who are working as Fremdsprachenassistenten in Germany for the school year 2014-2015. However I have been sent to place quite far away from most of my comrades, the borderlands between Bavaria and Austria.

The city where I am living and working is called “Laufen” and it is in Bavaria. It is not to be confused with Laufen in Switzerland or the city named “Lauf” in Bavaria. It is a city of 6000 which lies directly on the border of Austria. The border here is the river Salzach and on the opposite side of the bridge over the river is the town of Oberndorf (ca. 5500 people), so the two function as a sort of international combined community. The internet tells me that they used to be the same city, but they were split between Germany and Austria after the Napoleonic wars. Laufen is quite an old city which got rich because of the use of the Salzach for shipping salt from the mountains (I will aim to write a post about the salt trade as there are multiple museums and salt related attractions in the area). 

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The bridge between Laufen and Oberndorf from the German side. You can see the Salzach a little bit beneath the bridge.

In Laufen I am working at two schools, a Gymnasium and a Mittelschule*. My time is split so that 1/3 of my hours are at the Mittelschule and the rest are at the Gymnasium. I’ve been at it for almost two months so far and what I do varies week to week.

  • At the Gymnasium I have a few hours that are consistent. In particular 3 hours per week I have small groups from the Oberstufe (the grade 11s and 12s) to practice speaking English. I also help to organize activities in normal classes, give pointers on presentations and help clarify English vocabulary during writing exercises.
  • In the Mittelschule I am always with the same classes, one 5th, one 6th and one 9th. The exercises I do with them also vary (as does how much I use my German). With the grade 5s I act as an example for pronunciation, with the grade 6s I lead exercises with small groups and with the grade 9s I do small group exercises where we work on speaking and pronunciation.

 

I also live in the city of Laufen, but on one of the last streets that can really be considered in Laufen proper. The secretary from my school was lovely and found me a place which is typically a Ferienwohnung (vacation rental), which is not the cheapest accommodation, but is also not terribly expensive and I have two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a large living room with a view of… farms. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to the schools and a 25 minute walk (or 10 minute bike) to Austria.

Now that you know where I am and what I’m doing, I’ll tell you a bit about my free time and what I’ve done so far.

You don’t have to pity me too much for being in the country as Laufen is only about 20km North of Salzburg and I can quite easily be in the mountains here. Unfortunately the train journey to Salzburg isn’t the easiest connection, from Laufen it only runs now and then, but from Oberndorf there is a “Lokalbahn” that travels to and from every 30 minutes. Although it isn’t the best of connections, if I want to go out to one of Salzburg’s many Irish pubs (yes, many) or to the theatre, Salzburg really isn’t too far.

As mentioned, the mountains, aka the Alps, are quite near to here and I pretty much live in the foothills. I really like hiking and skiing, so this is a fantastic for me. On the weekends I’ve done a few hikes and a short bike tour with a colleague from the school. I am already planning some ski trips including possibly going on a school ski trip.

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View from Rauhen Kopf near Bischofswiesen.

I’ve done some longer trips already, pretty much all within Germany apart from my frequent forays into Salzburg and 5 days spent in Amsterdam before I started to work. These were mostly visiting friends in Mainz, Köln, Trier, Freiburg, Frankfurt and München. I already have some other plans in the works to head up north in December and January.

Me (on the right) with friends Tylor and Svenja in Villingen. Tylor is a former FSA who now lives and works in Germany.

So that is a short introduction to my life in Bavaria, you’ll be sure to hear from me soon. So stay tuned if you want to hear about the Bavarian dialect, living on the borderlands, my arrival in Germany and my adventures in and out of school!

Pfiat eich!** Lauren in Laufen. 

*Mittelschule is the Bavarian Ministry’s euphemism for Hauptschule. 

** Also can be spelled “Pfiat euch.” Bayrisch for something like “Tschüß,” though the actual hochdeutsch would be “behüt euch Gott.”